It did seem bizarre that Sony would actually let Shenmue 3 take up a fair amount of their presentation time at it's E3 conference just to help advertise Shenmue 3 on KickStarter (just out of the goodness of their own hearts). Sony is a big corporation and ultimately they do want to make a tidy profit.

It therefore makes perfect sense that Sony were intending on helping to fund this project all along, with the caveat that there would be enough crowd support (which has now been more than proven with the KickStarter target being utterly smashed!)

A great day has just got even greater. Hopefully this funding from Sony can help Yu Suzuki make the Shenmue 3 he really wants to make and the Shenmue 3 that the series as a whole deserves!

Yea exactly. If Sony can see themselves potentially make a fair bit of money from Shenmue 3, I am sure that we will soon see a Shenmue 3 PS4 copy. You never know, that could even be an E3 2016 announcement if the level of funding and interest continues at this rate!

I'm sure it will also be only a matter of time before SEGA want to be involved as well; perhaps HD versions of Shenmue 1 and 2 might happen in the near future if the interest stays at this level. Not only will that make SEGA a bit of money but it will also indirectly advertise Shenmue 3 for fans who are new to the saga

Riku Rose wrote:Well there is now a 31 page thread on NeoGaf with many saying Sony should cancel the Kickstarter and fund it themselves. The internet couldn't just be happy...

Yea completely agree, some people should just shut it and savour this moment!

As i've already said to someone else on here, regardless of the excitement (..and the negativity), I just think it's absolutely amazing that we are actually having these conversations. Who would have thought, this time last week we would actually be discussing Shenmue 3 and it's release?? Absolutely amazing! I'm still buzzing.

I think the days of Shenmue III being considered a AAA franchise are done, so I'm not sure if a physical release would make sense given how many unit sales are typically expected of a boxed product. I know the kickstarter is a huge success, but I would imagine it would have to get a crazy amount of money from kickstarter to get consideration for release as a boxed product. Plus, Sony could even have a limit on how much they want to invest in the game (risk), even with the kickstarter money. It might be budgeted to be a mid-tier downloadable game, or episodic, or who knows.

And with my AAA comment, I just mean that it's not going to be at the top of the class regarding tech like it was during the dreamcast days. I have no doubt that even without a huge budget, they'll still be able to deliver a real Shenmue experience.

What's really great about this is, in addition to funding, they'll probably get some of Sony's support with QA, production, and possibly audio/VO/Music.

I think the days of Shenmue III being considered a AAA franchise are done, so I'm not sure if a physical release would make sense given how many unit sales are typically expected of a boxed product. I know the kickstarter is a huge success, but I would imagine it would have to get a crazy amount of money from kickstarter to get consideration for release as a boxed product. Plus, Sony could even have a limit on how much they want to invest in the game (risk), even with the kickstarter money. It might be budgeted to be a mid-tier downloadable game, or episodic, or who knows.

And with my AAA comment, I just mean that it's not going to be at the top of the class regarding tech like it was during the dreamcast days. I have no doubt that even without a huge budget, they'll still be able to deliver a real Shenmue experience.

What's really great about this is, in addition to funding, they'll probably get some of Sony's support with QA, production, and possibly audio/VO/Music.

I completely agree with you, Shenmue 3 realistically is not going to be the AAA title it's predecessors were. I think that's primarily down to an age/time thing. The reason why Shenmue 1 and 2 were AAA titles were because they had a big budget, great storyline that was set in a living, breathing world with changing weather effects, NPCs going about their daily routines, the ability to play in a sandbox environment all with stunning graphics. Back then, there were very few games like that.

However, fast-forward to 2015; we find that what made Shenmue so unique about 14-15 years ago is not so unique now. There are now MANY games out there which model themselves on having a living breathing world with great graphics and a focus on storyline. Think of games like GTA, Elder Scrolls, The Witcher; all of these use very similar elements to what made the first Shenmue so revolutionary.

I think that's why it's very difficult for Shenmue 3 to be a AAA title, not because it's any less of a game (it's still going to be AMAZING), but the fact that it wont be as ground-breaking because other games are using similar gameplay, storyline and environment principles that Shenmue first used all those years ago.

Shenmue laid the foundations to a fully interactive gaming environment, that's why it's so special, because it started all of this.